Systems and methods for creating multitrack recordings

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for making a multitrack recording of a telephony communication, such as a conference call, record the contributions of each participant its own respective, separate recording track. In some instances, the contribution(s) of one or more participants is recorded in separate recording tracks, and the contributions of multiple other participants is mixed and recorded in a single recording track. An organizer or administrator of a telephony communication, such as a conference call, can instruct a multitrack recording system as to how to format a multitrack recording of the telephony communication via commands submitted through an application programming interface (API).

This application claims priority to the filing date of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/764,862, which was filed Aug. 17, 2019, the contentsof which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is related to system and methods for generating multitrackrecordings of telephony communications, such as telephone calls andconference calls.

While many conference call services allow one to record the conferencecall, typically the mixed audio of all participants is what is recorded.If one wishes to create a transcription of what each participant said,it is sometimes difficult to separate the spoken contributions of eachparticipant so that what each participant said is attributed to theproper party. This is particularly true, when one attempts to use speechrecognition based software applications to create such transcriptions.

Moreover, it is sometimes desirable to review a recording of aconference call to create a transcription of what only a singleparticipant said. here again, it is quite difficult for transcriptionsoftware applications to identify the spoken contributions of only asingle party.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a first communications environment which could beutilized to perform methods embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a first diagram of elements of a system for creating amultitrack recording;

FIG. 3 is a second diagram of elements of a system for creating amultitrack recording;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing steps of a first method for making amultitrack recording;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing steps of a second method for making amultitrack recording;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a third method for making amultitrack recording;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a fourth method for making amultitrack recording;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a second communications environment which couldbe utilized to perform methods embodying the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a computer system and associated peripheralswhich could embody the invention, or which could be used to practicemethods embodying the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description of preferred embodiments refers tothe accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments of theinvention. Other embodiments having different structures and operationsdo not depart from the scope of the present invention.

The invention relates to systems and methods for making multitrackrecordings of telephony communications, such as conference calls. Forpurposes of the following description and claims, a “telephonycommunication” could include a telephone call or an audio conferencecall, a video call or a video conference, as well as other forms ofaudio or video communications. Moreover, a telephony communication couldinclude audio, video and also various text-based communications. Thetext-based communications could include text messages, private textualmessages that are exchanged between two or more participants of thetelephony communication, and other forms of textual communications.

The following description and claims refer to recording one or moreparticipants' contributions to a telephony communication. Eachparticipant's contribution could be spoken audio or other sounds thatthe participant contributed, a video feed that may include audio sounds,as well as any text-based messages that the participant contributed andwhich were seen by some or all the participants.

Before describing systems and methods embodying the invention, we willfirst discuss a communications environment 100, as illustrated in FIG.1, in which the inventive systems could exist and in which the inventivemethods could be performed.

As shown in FIG. 1, a VOIP telephony service provider 102, a PubliclySwitched Telephone Network (PSTN) 104 and a cellular telephony serviceprovider 106 are all connected to a switch 114 of a telephony servicesprovider 110. The switch 114 connects incoming telephone calls andoutgoing telephone calls that are carried by the VOIP telephony serviceprovider 102, PSTN 104 and/or a cellular telephony service provider 106to a media bridge and recording unit 120. Of course, communicationslinks to participants could be established in other ways as well. Thecommunications links between participants and the media bridge andrecording unit 120 could carry just audio, or audio and video, as wellas textual-based messages.

The media bridge and recording unit 120 includes an audio bridge 122,which itself includes an audio mixer 124. Also included is a multitrackrecording unit 130.

The telephony services provider 110 also includes an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) 112 which can be used by customers of thetelephony services provider 110 to interact with the telephony servicesprovider 110. A customer, using a client device 140, can use the API 112to issue commands that the telephony services provider 110 then actsupon. In addition, the API 112 can be used by customers to requestinformation and data from the telephony services provider 110. Moreover,APIs can be used to programmatically customize or add features that thecustomer may want in their telephony services. For example, theseinterfaces provide simple and scalable solutions to extending voiceand/or messaging services to environments where they did not typicallyexist, such as websites and smartphone applications.

The client device 140 could be a desktop or laptop computer, a tablet, asmartphone or virtually any other sort of computing device that enablesthe customer to interact with the API 112 provided by the telephonyservices provider 110.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the multitrack recording unit 130 can createmultitrack recordings 200 that include a plurality of recording tracks202, 204. Each recording track 202, 204 is a separate recording.However, the recording tracks may include synchronization or timing dataso that a particular portion of the data in a first recording track 202can be synchronized with the data in a corresponding portion of thesecond recording track 204.

The following description will discuss how the audio of a conferencecall can be recorded in multiple separate tracks of a multitrackrecording. However, systems and methods embodying the invention are notlimited to simply recording the audio of a conference call. As notedabove, a participant's contribution to a telephony communication couldinclude audio, video, as well as text-based messages. Thus, thefollowing descriptions, which primarily focus on recording the audio ofa conference call, should in no way be considered limiting of theclaimed invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the steps of a first method 400 embodying theinvention. A discussion of this method is provided below in conjunctionwith what is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4.

The method 400 begins and proceeds to step S402, where the API 112 of atelephony services provider 110 receives a command from a customer torecord the audio of a conference call in a multitrack recording 200. Thecommand could specify that the audio contributions of a specificparticipant are to be recorded in a first track 202 of the multitrackrecording 200, and that the audio contributions of all otherparticipants are to be mixed and recorded in a second track 204 of themultitrack recording 200. The command received via the API 112 couldinclude a call control object, and one aspect or portion of the callcontrol object could specify how the multitrack recording is to beformatted.

In some embodiments, the participant whose audio contributions are to berecorded in the first track 202 of the multitrack recording 200 may beidentified via a participant identification code. In some embodiments,the participant identification codes of the various participants areassigned as the participants join the conference call. In otherembodiments, the participant identification codes could be establishedin a different fashion.

In other embodiments, the participant whose audio contributions are tobe recorded in the first track 202 of the multitrack recording 200 maybe identified in some other fashion. For example, the participant couldbe identified by the telephone number of the telephony device that theparticipant will use to access the conference call. When the participantcalls in to join the conference call, via the switch 114, thisinformation will be included in Caller ID information that is providedduring call setup. In this instance, the command received from thecustomer via the API 112 would include the participant's telephonenumber. The switch 114 receives the telephone number of each callingparty as part of the caller ID information, so the switch 114 is able toidentify which audio stream corresponds to the telephone number providedin the client's recording command. The switch 114 then informs either orboth of the mixer 124 and multitrack recording unit 130 about whichaudio stream to record separately in a first recording track 202.

Caller ID information often includes the name of the party that placed acall. As such, the participant's name could also be used to identify theparticipant whose audio contributions are to be recorded in the firsttrack 202 of the multitrack recording 200. In this instance, similar tothe telephone number example given immediately above, the switch 114identifies the audio stream belonging to the identified participant andcommunicate this information to either or both of the mixer 124 and themultitrack recording unit 130.

In still other embodiments, when the customer interacts with the API 112to request that the conference call be recorded in a particular way, theAPI 112 may provide the customer with an identification code that is tobe used by the participant whose contributions are to be recodedseparately. When that participant joins the conference call, theparticipant will supply the identification code, which signals that thatparticipant's contributions are to be recorded separately.

The above examples are just a few of the ways in which the audio streamwhich is to be recorded separately can be identified in the customercommand received via the API 112. Other ways of identifying theparticipant whose audio contributions are to be recorded separately inthe first track 202 of the multitrack recording 200 could also be used.

The method then proceeds to step S404, where the multitrack recordingunit 130 formats a multitrack recording 200 that will be used to recordthe conference call. In this instance, the customer's command receivedvia the API 112 specifies that the conference call is to be recorded ina two track recording. In response, the multitrack recording unit 130establishes a multitrack recording 200 with a first recording track 202and a second recording track 204, as illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown inFIG. 2, call leg 1 from the identified participant is routed to thefirst track 202 of the multitrack recording 200. Call legs 2, 3, 4 and 5from four other conference call participants are combined in the mixer124 and the combined audio is routed to the second track 204 of themultitrack recording 200.

The method then proceeds to step S406, where the multitrack recordingunit 130 records the audio contributions of the identified participantin the first recording track 202, and where the audio contributions ofall other participants are combined in the mixer 124, and then recordedin the second recording track 204.

Each time that a participant leaves the conference call, audio from thatparticipant's associated call leg is silenced. The method ends when thelast participant leaves the conference. Thus, if the participant whoseaudio contributions are being recorded in the first track 202 of themultitrack recording 200 were to leave the conference call before itends, the multitrack recording would continue to record the audiocontributions of the other participants in the second track 204 of themultitrack recording 200 until the conference call ends.

A second method embodying the invention is described below withreferences to FIGS. 1, 3 and 5. FIG. 5 illustrates the steps of a method500 in which the audio contributions of multiple participants arerecorded separately in respective recording tracks of a multitrackrecording, and in which the audio contributions of two or moreparticipants are combined in a mixer, and recorded in a single recordingtrack.

The method 500 begins and proceeds to step S502, where a command isreceived from a customer to record a conference call in a multitrackrecording. Here again, the command could be received via the API 112, orvia various other means. The command would indicate that thecontributions of multiple participants are to be recorded in separaterecording tracks of a multitrack recording.

In some instances, the command received from the customer could specifythat only the audio contributions of specific participants are to berecorded in separate recording tracks, and that the audio contributionsof all other participants are to be combined and recorded in a singlerecording track. The participants whose audio contributions are to berecorded in separate recording tracks could be identified in any of theways discussed above.

In other instances, the command received from the customer could specifythat the audio contributions of all participants are to be recorded inseparate recording tracks.

In still other instances, the command received from the customer couldindicate that the first n participants to join the conference call areto be recorded in separate recording tracks, and that the audiocontributions of all the other participants are to be combined andrecorded in a single recording track. Under those circumstances, therewould be a total of n+1 recording tracks in the multitrack recording.

In some instances there may be an upper limit to the number of recordingtracks that are available in a multitrack recording. Limits on thenumber of individual recording tracks that are available may be imposedby hardware limitations or by file format limitations. As a result ofsuch limitations, there may be only X number of recording tracksavailable in a multitrack recording. Under those circumstances, thecommand received from the customer could specify that the audiocontributions of the first X−1 participants to join the conference callshould be recorded in separate recording tracks, and that the audiocontributions of the remaining participants should be combined andrecorded in the last recording track.

Moreover, in instances where there are a limited number of recordingtracks, the customer command could specify that the audio contributionsof specific participants are to be recorded in separate recordingtracks. If additional recording tracks are available, the audiocontributions of additional participants could also be recorded inseparate recording tracks. However, the last available recording trackwould be reserved for a combination of the audio contributions of thoseparticipants that could not be recorded in separate recording tracks dueto the limited number of recording tracks that are available.

The method then proceeds to step S504, where the multitrack recordingunit 130 sets up a multitrack recording that will be used to record theconference call. Depending on what the customer's command specifies, themultitrack recording could be setup to have various different numbers ofrecording tracks. In some embodiments, it may be necessary to configurethe multitrack recording from the beginning with a sufficient number ofrecording tracks to handle the audio contributions of all anticipatedparticipants. In other embodiments, it may be possible to add additionalrecording tracks to the multitrack recording as more and moreparticipants join the conference call so that the audio contributions ofall participants can be recorded in respective separate recordingtracks. However, as noted above, the last available recording trackwould be reserved for a combination of the audio contributions of thoseparticipants that could not be recorded in individual recording tracks.

The method then proceeds approximately simultaneously to steps S506 andS508. In step S506, the audio contributions of those participants thatare to be recorded separately are recorded in respective separaterecording tracks of the multitrack recording. In the diagram illustratedin FIG. 3, the audio contributions of four participants are separatelyrecorded in respective recording tracks 302, 304, 306 and 308 of themultitrack recording 300.

Approximately simultaneously, in step S508, the audio contributions oftwo or more participants are combined in a single recording track 310 ofthe multitrack recording 300. For example, audio from two participantsreceived over call legs 5 and 6 is combined in the mixer 124, and thecombined audio is recorded on recording track 310.

As each participant leaves the conference call, audio from thatparticipant's call leg is silenced. The method ends when the lastparticipant leaves the conference call.

A third method 600 embodying the invention is described below withreferences to FIGS. 1, 3 and 6. In this method 600, the number ofparticipants in the conference call is determined at the start of theconference call, and that number is used to format a multitrackrecording that will be used to record the conference call.

The method 600 begins and proceeds to step S602, where a command isreceived from a customer to make a multitrack recording of a telephonycommunication, such as a conference call. The method proceeds to stepS604, where the number of participants in the telephony communication isdetermined. In the case of a conference call, this could include waitingfor all participants to join the conference call, at which point thetotal number of participants would be known. In other instances, onecould check an invitation that was sent out to potential participants todetermine the total number of people that were invited to join thetelephony communication. The total number of invitees would then be usedto establish the number of participants. In other instances, the totalnumber of participants could be determined in alternate ways.

The method then proceeds to step S606, where the multitrack recordingunit 130 establishes the format of the multitrack recording, and inparticular, the number of recording tracks that will be included in themultitrack recording. In some instances, the number of differentrecording tracks will equal the number of participants determined instep S604. In other instances, the number of recording tracks couldequal the number of participants determined in step S604, plus 1. Theextra recording track would be used to record the audio contributions ofany additional unexpected participants that end up joining the telephonycommunication. If multiple unexpected participants join the telephonycommunication, the audio contributions of all the unexpectedparticipants would be combined and recorded in the extra additionalrecording track.

The method then proceeds approximately simultaneously to steps S608, andpossibly step S610. In step S608, the audio contributions of at leastsome participants is recorded in respective separate recording tracks.Approximately simultaneously, in step S610, the audio contributions oftwo or more participants could be combined and recorded in a singlerecording track. S610 is an optional step that would only be performedif the customer's command received in step S602 directs that this occur,or in circumstances where multiple unexpected participants join thetelephony communication, and there are not a sufficient number ofindividual recording tracks such that all participants can be recordedin their own separate track. Step S610 might also be necessary wherelimitations on the number of available recording tracks make itimpossible for all participants to be recorded in their own separatetrack.

The method ends when the last participant leaves the telephonycommunication.

A fourth method 700 embodying the invention is described below withreferences to FIGS. 1, 3 and 7. In this method, additional recordingtracks are added to a multitrack recording that is already in progressas more and more participants join an ongoing telephony communication.

The method 700 begins and proceeds to step S702, where a command isreceived to create a multitrack recording of a telephony communication.In step S704, the multitrack recording unit 130 establishes a multitrackrecording that will be used to record the telephony communication, andit is one that is capable of adding recording tracks after the recordingbegins.

In step S706, after the telephony communication has begun, an additionalrecording track is added to the multitrack recording 200 each time thata new participant joins the telephony communication so that the newparticipant's contributions to the telephony communication can berecorded in that new recording track. As part of the process, a checkmay be performed on a regular periodic basis to determine if any newparticipants have joined the conference call. and to determine if anyparticipants have left the conference call. Information about who ispresently a participant can be obtained from the switch 114 and/or themixer 124.

For example, assume that a check of the current conference callparticipants is performed every 20 ms. Each time that the check isperformed, the current list of participants can be compared to the listof participants acquired during the previous check to determine if a newparticipant has joined the conference call and to determine if aparticipant has left the conference call. If a new participant hasjoined the conference call, during step S706 a new recording track wouldbe added to the multitrack recording so that the newly joinedparticipant's audio contributions can be recorded in the new recordingtrack. Similarly, if a comparison of the current participants to theparticipants that existed during the previous check indicates that aparticipant has left the conference call, the recording track for theparticipant that left can be silenced for the remainder of theconference call.

In step S708, each participants' contribution to the telephonycommunication is recorded in a separate track of the multitrackrecording. The method ends when the last participant leaves thetelephony communication.

With reference to FIG. 3, the method 700 described above in connectionwith FIG. 7 might begin with only two participants on a conference callbridge. The first and second participants' audio contributions to theconference call would be received through the switch 114 on call legs 1and 2, respectively. At this point in time, the multitrack recording 300would only include a first recording track 302 that is used to recordthe first participant's audio contributions, and a second recordingtrack 304, which is used to record the second participant'scontributions to the conference call.

As the conference call continues, a third participant would join theconference call. When the third participant joins the conference call,the multitrack recording unit 130 would add a third recording track 306to the multitrack recording 300, and the third participant's audiocontributions, received over call leg 3, would be recorded in the thirdrecording track 306. The same process is repeated when fourth and fifthparticipants join the conference call, and fourth and fifth recordingtracks 308 and 310 are added to the multitrack recording 300 to recordthe fourth and fifth participants' contributions to the conference callreceived over call legs 4 and 5, respectively.

If the multitrack recording is limited to only five recording tracks, asillustrated in FIG. 3, when a sixth participant joins the conferencecall, the audio contributions of the fifth and sixth participants wouldbe combined in the mixer 124, and the combined audio contributions ofthe fifth and sixth participants, received over call legs 5 and 6,respectively, would be recorded in the fifth recording track 310. Ifadditional participants thereafter join the conference call, the audiocontributions of those additional participants would also be combinedwith the audio contributions of the fifth and sixth participants in themixer 124, and the combined audio contributions would be recorded in thefifth recording track 310.

When the audio contributions of multiple conference call participantsare recorded separately, it is easy to generate individualtranscriptions of what each participant said during the course of theconference call. One could create such transcripts by submitting theindividual recordings to a software application that uses speechrecognition techniques to create a transcript of each recording. Also,if synchronization and/or timing information is included in eachrecorded track, that information can be used, along with the individualtranscripts, to create an accurate consolidated transcript of what someor all of the participants said during the conference call.

FIG. 8 illustrates a second communications environment 800 in whichsystem and methods embodying the invention could exist. In thisenvironment, an inbound carrier 814 connects incoming audio and/or videocalls from end users to a switch 810. The switch 810 is also connectedto an outbound carrier 812 that connects outbound audio and video callsto end users.

A voice application programming interface 802 that includes a customerfacing application programming interface 804 provides customers with away to selectively control and request the calling and messagingservices they obtain. In the case of communications services, a customercan submit a call control object to the voice application programminginterface 802 to request certain services, and to modify existingservices. In this context, a customer could submit a call control objectthat requests the setup of a conference call, and the call controlobject could include information that specifies how audio of theconference call is to be recorded in a multitrack recording. Details ofhow call control objects can be used to request telephony and messagingservices, and modify those services, are provided in U.S. Pat. No.9,912,808, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

When the voice application programming interface 802 receives such acall control object, the voice application programming interface signalsa conversation service 806 to request the setup of the requestedconference call. The conversation service 806 or the voice applicationprogramming interface 802 contacts a media bridge and recording unit 808to provide instructions about how to configure and setup an appropriatemultitrack recording. That information provided to the media bridge andrecording unit 808 specifies which call legs connected to the switch viathe inbound carrier 814 and/or the outbound carrier 812 are to berecorded in which tracks of the multitrack recording.

The voice application programming interface 802 can also interact withcustomers in other ways to allow the customers to request and obtainservices. Call control objects are just one way that customers canrequest and control the services they obtain.

The invention may be embodied in methods, apparatus, electronic devices,and/or computer program products. Accordingly, the invention may beembodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, residentsoftware, micro-code, and the like), which may be generally referred toherein as a “circuit” or “module”. Furthermore, the present inventionmay take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable orcomputer-readable storage medium having computer-usable orcomputer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system. In the context of thisdocument, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be anymedium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport theprogram for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device. These computer program instructions mayalso be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory that maydirect a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus tofunction in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored inthe computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article ofmanufacture including instructions that implement the function specifiedin the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus or device. More specificexamples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium includethe following: hard disks, optical storage devices, magnetic storagedevices, an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portablecomputer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, and a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM).

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in an object oriented programming language,such as Java®, Smalltalk or C++, and the like. However, the computerprogram code for carrying out operations of the present invention mayalso be written in conventional procedural programming languages, suchas the “C” programming language and/or any other lower level assemblerlanguages. It will be further appreciated that the functionality of anyor all of the program modules may also be implemented using discretehardware components, one or more Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), or programmed Digital Signal Processors ormicrocontrollers.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the present disclosure and its practical applications, tothereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the inventionand various embodiments with various modifications as may be suited tothe particular use contemplated.

FIG. 9 depicts a computer system 900 that can be utilized in variousembodiments of the present invention to implement the inventionaccording to one or more embodiments. The various embodiments asdescribed herein may be executed on one or more computer systems, whichmay interact with various other devices. One such computer system is thecomputer system 900 illustrated in FIG. 9. The computer system 900 maybe configured to implement the methods described above. The computersystem 900 may be used to implement any other system, device, element,functionality or method of the above-described embodiments. In theillustrated embodiments, the computer system 900 may be configured toimplement the disclosed methods as processor-executable executableprogram instructions 922 (e.g., program instructions executable byprocessor(s) 910) in various embodiments.

In the illustrated embodiment, computer system 900 includes one or moreprocessors 910 a-910 n coupled to a system memory 920 via aninput/output (I/O) interface 930. Computer system 900 further includes anetwork interface 940 coupled to I/O interface 930, an input/outputdevices interface 950. The input/output devices interface 950facilitates connection of external I/O devices to the system 900, suchas cursor control device 960, keyboard 970, display(s) 980, microphone982 and speakers 984. In various embodiments, any of the components maybe utilized by the system to receive user input described above. Invarious embodiments, a user interface may be generated and displayed ondisplay 980. In some cases, it is contemplated that embodiments may beimplemented using a single instance of computer system 800, while inother embodiments multiple such systems, or multiple nodes making upcomputer system 900, may be configured to host different portions orinstances of various embodiments. For example, in one embodiment someelements may be implemented via one or more nodes of computer system 900that are distinct from those nodes implementing other elements. Inanother example, multiple nodes may implement computer system 900 in adistributed manner.

In different embodiments, the computer system 900 may be any of varioustypes of devices, including, but not limited to, a personal computersystem, desktop computer, laptop, notebook, or netbook computer, aportable computing device, a mainframe computer system, handheldcomputer, workstation, network computer, a smartphone, a camera, a settop box, a mobile device, a consumer device, video game console,handheld video game device, application server, storage device, aperipheral device such as a switch, modem, router, or in general anytype of computing or electronic device.

In various embodiments, the computer system 900 may be a uniprocessorsystem including one processor 910, or a multiprocessor system includingseveral processors 910 (e.g., two, four, eight, or another suitablenumber). Processors 910 may be any suitable processor capable ofexecuting instructions. For example, in various embodiments processors910 may be general-purpose or embedded processors implementing any of avariety of instruction set architectures (ISAs). In multiprocessorsystems, each of processors 910 may commonly, but not necessarily,implement the same ISA.

System memory 920 may be configured to store program instructions 922and/or data 932 accessible by processor 910. In various embodiments,system memory 920 may be implemented using any suitable memorytechnology, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronousdynamic RAM (SDRAM), nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type ofmemory. In the illustrated embodiment, program instructions and dataimplementing any of the elements of the embodiments described above maybe stored within system memory 920. In other embodiments, programinstructions and/or data may be received, sent or stored upon differenttypes of computer-accessible media or on similar media separate fromsystem memory 920 or computer system 900.

In one embodiment, I/O interface 930 may be configured to coordinate I/Otraffic between processor 910, system memory 920, and any peripheraldevices in the device, including network interface 940 or otherperipheral interfaces, such as input/output devices interface 950. Insome embodiments, I/O interface 930 may perform any necessary protocol,timing or other data transformations to convert data signals from onecomponent (e.g., system memory 920) into a format suitable for use byanother component (e.g., processor 910). In some embodiments, I/Ointerface 930 may include support for devices attached through varioustypes of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB)standard, for example. In some embodiments, the function of I/Ointerface 930 may be split into two or more separate components, such asa north bridge and a south bridge, for example. Also, in someembodiments some or all of the functionality of I/O interface 930, suchas an interface to system memory 920, may be incorporated directly intoprocessor 910.

Network interface 940 may be configured to allow data to be exchangedbetween computer system 900 and other devices attached to a network(e.g., network 990), such as one or more external systems or betweennodes of computer system 900. In various embodiments, network 990 mayinclude one or more networks including but not limited to Local AreaNetworks (LANs) (e.g., an Ethernet or corporate network), Wide AreaNetworks (WANs) (e.g., the Internet), wireless data networks, some otherelectronic data network, or some combination thereof. In variousembodiments, network interface 940 may support communication via wiredor wireless general data networks, such as any suitable type of Ethernetnetwork, for example; via telecommunications/telephony networks such asanalog voice networks or digital fiber communications networks; viastorage area networks such as Fiber Channel SANs, or via any othersuitable type of network and/or protocol.

External input/output devices interface 950 may, in some embodiments,include one or more display terminals, keyboards, keypads, touchpads,scanning devices, voice or optical recognition devices, or any otherdevices suitable for entering or accessing data by one or more computersystems 900. Multiple input/output devices may be present in computersystem 900 or may be distributed on various nodes of computer system900. In some embodiments, similar input/output devices may be separatefrom computer system 900 and may interact with one or more nodes ofcomputer system 900 through a wired or wireless connection, such as overnetwork interface 940.

In some embodiments, the illustrated computer system may implement anyof the operations and methods described above, such as the methodsillustrated by the flowcharts of FIGS. 4-7. In other embodiments,different elements and data may be included.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer system 900 ismerely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope ofembodiments. In particular, the computer system and devices may includeany combination of hardware or software that can perform the indicatedfunctions of various embodiments, including computers, network devices,Internet appliances, PDAs, wireless phones, pagers, and the like.Computer system 900 may also be connected to other devices that are notillustrated, or instead may operate as a stand-alone system. Inaddition, the functionality provided by the illustrated components mayin some embodiments be combined in fewer components or distributed inadditional components. Similarly, in some embodiments, the functionalityof some of the illustrated components may not be provided and/or otheradditional functionality may be available.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that, while various itemsare illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage while beingused, these items or portions of them may be transferred between memoryand other storage devices for purposes of memory management and dataintegrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of thesoftware components may execute in memory on another device andcommunicate with the illustrated computer system via inter-computercommunication. Some or all of the system components or data structuresmay also be stored (e.g., as instructions or structured data) on acomputer-accessible medium or a portable article to be read by anappropriate drive, various examples of which are described above. Insome embodiments, instructions stored on a computer-accessible mediumseparate from computer system 900 may be transmitted to computer system900 via transmission media or signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication mediumsuch as a network and/or a wireless link. Various embodiments mayfurther include receiving, sending or storing instructions and/or dataimplemented in accordance with the foregoing description upon acomputer-accessible medium or via a communication medium. In general, acomputer-accessible medium may include a storage medium or memory mediumsuch as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or DVD/CD-ROM, volatile ornon-volatile media such as RAM (e.g., SDRAM, DDR, RDRAM, SRAM, and thelike), ROM, and the like.

In many of the foregoing descriptions, a software application running ona telephony device may perform certain functions related to thedisclosed technology. In alternate embodiments, a browser running on thetelephony device may access a software application that is running onsome other device via a data network connection. For example, thesoftware application could be running on a remote server that isaccessible via a data network connection. The software applicationrunning elsewhere, and accessible via a browser on the telephony devicemay provide all of the same functionality as an application running onthe telephony device itself. Thus, any references in the foregoingdescription and the following claims to an application running on atelephony device are intended to also encompass embodiments andimplementations where a browser running on a telephony device accesses asoftware application running elsewhere via a data network.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

While the invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment,it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of recording a telephony communicationthat involves at least two participants, comprising: receiving a commandto record a telephony communication that involves the at least twoparticipants, wherein the command specifies that a first participant'scontribution to the telephony communication is to be recorded separatelyfrom other participants' contributions to the telephony communication;establishing a multitrack recording format for recording the at leasttwo participants' contributions to the telephony communication;recording a first participant's contributions to the telephonycommunication in a first recording track; and recording all of the otherparticipants' contributions to the telephony communication in a secondrecording track.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephonycommunication includes at least three participants, and wherein thecontributions to the telephony communication provided by the second andthird participants is mixed and recorded in the second recording track.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received command includesinformation that can be used to identify the contributions provided bythe first participant.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingproviding an identification code to the entity that sent the command torecord the telephony communication, where the identification code can beused to identify the contributions provided by the first participant. 5.A method of recording a telephony communication that involves at leastfirst, second and third participants, comprising: receiving a command torecord a telephony communication that involves the at least first,second and third participants in a multitrack recording format;establishing the multitrack recording format; and recording the first,second and third participants' contributions to the telephonycommunication in respective separate first, second and third recordingtracks.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the multitrack recordingformat includes n recording tracks, wherein the number of participantsis greater than n, and wherein the recording step comprises: recordingthe contributions to the telephony communication provided by the firstn−1 participants in respective separate n−1 recording tracks; and mixingthe contributions to the telephony communication provided by theremaining participants and recording the mixed audio in the nthrecording track.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the received commandspecifies the number of tracks that are to be included in the multitrackrecording.
 8. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining thenumber of participants involved in the telephony communication, andwherein establishing the multitrack recording format comprisesestablishing the multitrack recording format so that it includes atleast as many separate recording tracks as there are participantsinvolved in the telephony communication.
 9. The method of claim 5,wherein the establishing step comprises adding a new track to themultitrack recording format each time that a new participant joins thetelephony communication, and wherein the recording step comprisesrecording the audio generated by each participant during the telephonycommunication in its own separate recording track.
 10. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the received command includes participantidentification codes for any participants whose contributions to thetelephony communication are to be recorded separately in their ownrecording track, and wherein the recording step comprises separatelyrecording the contributions to the telephony communication provided byat least the participants corresponding to the participantidentification codes in the received command in their own respectiveseparate recording tracks.
 11. The method of claim 5, further comprisingproviding first, second and third identification codes for therespective first, second and third participants to the entity that sentthe command to record the telephony communication, where the first,second and third identification codes can be used to identify thecontributions provided by the first, second and third participants. 12.A system for recording a telephony communication that involves at leastfirst, second and third participants, comprising: means for receiving acommand to record a telephony communication that involves the at leastfirst, second and third participants in a multitrack recording format;means for establishing the multitrack recording format; and means forrecording the first, second and third participants' contributions to thetelephony communication in respective separate first, second and thirdrecording tracks.
 13. A system for recording a telephony communicationthat involves at least first, second and third participants, the systemcomprising one or more processors configured to perform a methodcomprising: receiving a command to record a telephony communication thatinvolves the at least first, second and third participants in amultitrack recording format; establishing the multitrack recordingformat; and recording the first, second and third participants'contributions to the telephony communication in respective separatefirst, second and third recording tracks.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein the multitrack recording format includes n recording tracks,wherein the number of participants is greater than n, and wherein therecording step comprises: recording the contributions to the telephonycommunication provided by the first n−1 participants in respectiveseparate n−1 recording tracks; and mixing the contributions to thetelephony communication provided by the remaining participants andrecording the mixed audio in the nth recording track.
 15. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the received command specifies the number of tracksthat are to be included in the multitrack recording.
 16. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the method further comprises determining the number ofparticipants involved in the telephony communication, and whereinestablishing the multitrack recording format comprises establishing themultitrack recording format so that it includes at least as manyseparate recording tracks as there are participants involved in thetelephony communication.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein theestablishing step comprises adding a new track to the multitrackrecording format each time that a new participant joins the telephonycommunication, and wherein the recording step comprises recording theaudio generated by each participant during the telephony communicationin its own separate recording track.
 18. The system of claim 13, whereinthe received command includes participant identification codes for anyparticipants whose contributions to the telephony communication are tobe recorded separately in their own recording track, and wherein therecording step comprises separately recording the contributions to thetelephony communication provided by at least the participantscorresponding to the participant identification codes in the receivedcommand in their own respective separate recording tracks.
 19. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises providingfirst, second and third identification codes for the respective first,second and third participants to the entity that sent the command torecord the telephony communication, where the first, second and thirdidentification codes can be used to identify the contributions providedby the first, second and third participants.